Networking with The Federation of Small Businesses

The Business School, in partnership with the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), is pleased to host an informal and welcoming networking event for business owners from across the North East. This relaxed session will focus on building new connections, rekindling existing relationships, and sharing insights in a friendly and engaging setting.

This event is open to both FSB members and non-members, offering a valuable opportunity for all local business owners to connect and collaborate.

The event will also feature a bite-sized seminar delivered by an expert guest speaker, offering a timely exploration of key topics currently shaping the business landscape.

Speaker session - Strategy Made Practical: Understanding Your Environment, Your Business, and Your People

This session will introduce strategic management in a practical and accessible way, drawing on how strategy is taught at leading business schools while remaining grounded in the lived realities of small business ownership. Using a three-part lens, the session will help participants make sense of the strategic challenges they face every day.

We will begin by looking outside the business, exploring how markets, competition, regulation, technology, and economic uncertainty shape strategic options. This helps situate the challenges facing small firms within broader external dynamics.

With this context in view, attention then turns inside the business, encouraging participants to reflect on what their organisation is genuinely good at - its resources, capabilities, and sources of advantage relative to competitors operating under similar conditions.

Finally, looking within addresses the human element of strategy, including leadership, culture, and how people influence strategic outcomes over time.

Rather than presenting abstract theory, the session translates core strategic ideas into practical questions that business owners can apply immediately to their own organisations. The aim is not to provide ready-made answers, but to equip businesses with clearer ways of thinking strategically in uncertain and fast-changing environments.

About our speaker

Jeffrey Hughes (BBS, MBS, PhD, FRSA, SFHEA) is Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship at Durham University Business School and Associate Chair of the School’s Smart & Scale initiative, a £9 million research programme supporting SME innovation, resilience, and regional economic development in North-East England.

He holds a PhD in Strategy and Information Systems from Trinity College Dublin and completed postdoctoral research in Big Data Analytics at the University of St Andrews. His research appears in leading ABS4 and FT50 journals, and he has secured over £1.6 million in competitive funding from bodies including the ESRC, the UK Government, and the Scottish Funding Council.

An award-winning educator, Jeffrey has held senior academic leadership roles including Deputy Director of the Graduate School for Interdisciplinary Studies and Director of Teaching at the School of Management, University of St Andrews. Prior to joining Durham, he was Head of MBA Programmes at the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland.

He brings extensive industry experience in technology and consulting, having worked with organisations such as Diageo, Eir, British Telecom, and Saros Consulting. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and Adjunct Faculty at Trinity College Dublin.

Agenda

9.30am Arrivals, registration and informal networking over refreshments

10.00am Welcome by FSB

10.05am Welcome from Durham University

10.15am Guest speaker: Prof Jeffrey Hughes - Strategy Made Practical: Understanding Your Environment, Your Business, and Your People

10.45am Informal networking

11.30am Event close

Refreshments

Tea and coffee will be provided.